The Rift is the latest in a long line of consumer Virtual Reality headsets dating back to the 80s, each promising to revolutionise the way we view our games - literally. However, there's one rather major difference that sets the Rift apart from its predecessors; by all accounts, it doesn't suck. In fact, this could be the most important thing to happen to PC gaming since the invention of the polygon.
The Rift is the result of one gamer's obsession with VR, and industry heavyweights like Gabe Newell (pun not intended) and John Carmack claim the prototype is the best HMD (head mounted display) they've ever used. Palmer Luckey is the mad genius behind the Rift, and just happens to be the proud parent of the largest private collection of HMDs in the world. When he wasn't tinkering with his immersive toys at home, Palmer was getting paid to do VR research at work. After years of experimentation, Palmer came to the recent realisation that we now have the tech necessary for working VR, and it's hidden in plain sight — our mobile phones.
Today's smartphones pack high resolution displays small and light to fit comfortably inside
a visor; but, when combined with the Rift's innovative lens system, the result is a field of view of 110 degrees diagonal. More than double that of previous HMDs, this wide field of view means the user is totally immersed inside the game world, with their vision almost entirely filled by the game. It's also totally 3D; as each eye has its own screen, there are no headache-causing flickers or effects, unlike other forms of 3D.
Cheap accelerometers and gyroscopes, the result of smartphones and motion-controlled gaming systems, allow the Rift wearer to look around the game world simply by moving their head. There's a very slight delay of around 50 milliseconds in the preview Rift, but the goal is to get this down to under 20ms by the launch of the consumer product. This is very important, as latency can lead to simulation sickness, but most users of the demo unit haven't suffered from this stomach-churning condition.
With the $300 developer version due to ship in March off the back of a record-setting Kickstarter campaign, and a team of industry hardware veterans recruited to turn the Rift into a mainstream product, the consumer version is due sometime in the next 12 to 24 months. PC is the only announced platform, though we're sure Sony and Microsoft are itching for VR support on their next gen consoles. Whether they'll have the power necessary to render in 3D at the HD resolution targeted for the consumer version is another matter. If not, the Rift could make the PC the most popular gaming platform on the market for many years to come.
